GM $449 Million Investment Doubles Down on Chevy Volt, City of Detroit

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President Obama visits the GM plant in Detroit in 2010.

Two beleaguered brands - the Chevrolet Volt and the City of Detroit - will be leaning on each other even more as General Motors commits an additional $449 million to plants in Motown to produce the second generation of GM's plug-in hybrids and some other models, as well as the lithium-ion batteries that power they hybrids.

GM will invest $384 million to upgrade its Detroit-Hamtramck plant to build the next generation of Volt, as well as the similar Cadillac ELR and, for Europe and other countries, the Opel Ampera, Gerald Johnson, GM North America manufacturing vice president, told the Automotive Press Assocation in Detroit. That'll bring GM's total investment in the plant to more than $1 billion over the last five years.

Meanwhile, GM also will invest an additional $65 million at its Brownstown Battery Assembly plant in Detroit to support the next generation of the technology. Johnson said GM prefers to 'invest in [its] technology to support' the next version of the plug-in hybrids rather than to take advantage of America's current overcapacity for lithium-ion battery output.

Johnson formally announced the investments in the company of Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan.

Duggan said he was impressed that GM hadn't requested any tax incentives from the city for its decision to further expand the plant that sits on an area once known as 'Poletown' on an older border of Detroit with its largely Polish suburb, Hamtramck. 'It's always nice when they come in and have $384 million to invest and don't ask for a [tax] abatement,' Duggan said.

For his part, Snyder touted the 'strong track record of [GM] reinvesting in Michigan' and how the new investments underscore the fact that Detroit 'is still the epicenter of the auto industry' in America.

In fact, Johnson pointed out that GM has announced about $2.8 billion in manufacturing and technologies investments in Michigan facilities since 2009 and a total of $5.4 billion total in the United States, most of it in the Midwest.

Volt sales have remained disappointing because mainstream U.S. consumers simply haven't embraced the car despite the high levels of satisfaction with the vehicle that are expressed by Volt owners and the fact that, with an on-board gasoline engine, Volt doesn't saddle owners with the 'range anxiety' that is a problem for owners of all-electric vehicles who worry about running out of power and being stranded.

GM executives have high hopes for the Cadillac version of essentially the same car, ELR, especially after the stunning success of the all-electric Tesla Model S with high-end car buyers. ELR just went on sale in the first quarter.